


And Simply Be Mine

by missmichellebelle



Series: Through the Kaleidoscope [6]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Classical Music, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Pianist, Denial of Feelings, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Past Relationship(s), M/M, Romance, Romantic Tension, pianist levi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-16
Updated: 2015-09-16
Packaged: 2018-04-21 03:34:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4813415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missmichellebelle/pseuds/missmichellebelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There’s no attempt at convincing Levi that this practice is just like every other one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And Simply Be Mine

**Author's Note:**

> so not long after I wrote the first part of this, a certain song came up on my shuffle and I immediately went looking for a piano cover of it, and this whole chapter was planned out then. hopefully you guys like it. :*
> 
> this is by no means an ending, either. you guys seem to keep thinking that this verse is over, and it's not, although I might take some time to write some other ideas for a bit. then again, I said that before and lol that didn't happen. this piano verse is consuming af.
> 
> p.s. also I am weak for cook!Eren. like. all the Eren-can-cook fics plzkthx.

It’s the most incredible sense of déjà vu when Levi leaves to go to the grocery store and sees a folded up piece of card stock sitting unobtrusively in his entryway. He stares at it, like he can’t quite believe that it’s there, before he goes to pick it up. It’s from Eren—he knows without looking at the contents. It has to be. So long as Levi has lived in this apartment, Eren is the only one who has ever slipped notes under his door, although not since that fateful night when Levi had the courage and impulse to open it.

_can’t make afternoon practice today. push back until later? I’ll make dinner._

_p.s. one and only by adele? if it’s not too late._

Yep, definitely from Eren. It’s longer than any of the notes he used to leave, but then again, they didn’t exactly know one another back when this all started. Eren didn’t have any reason to leave more than whatever his newest request was, especially given that Levi’s playing was his only way of responding.

Which makes this new note all the more strange. Levi and Eren know each other now. Levi knows where Eren lives, they’ve exchanged phone numbers, and Eren had tried to add Levi on Facebook before he realized that the only Facebook that exists for him is a professional one that he doesn’t even have the password for (Erwin doesn’t trust him with his own social media, not that Levi has any interest in maintaining that sort of thing).

Why hadn’t Eren just texted him? Lord knows he does it enough about tons of shit that’s not important. Did he think Levi would say no? Is that why he did it in such a way that leaves no way for Levi to decline?

He shakes his head fondly, slipping the note into his back pocket and continuing out the door. If Eren is making dinner, he doesn’t really need to go to the store anymore, but he is running short on other basic things, like bread and bleach.

As he locks his door behind him, he muses over the fact that Eren even offered to make him dinner. It almost sounds like a…

No. _Ridiculous_.

*

Levi balances his phone on the rim of his piano, a YouTube video of Eren’s newest request queued up. It’s his normal practice time, but seeing as he will now be practicing later (he rolls his eyes), it doesn’t hurt to dedicate it to learning this new song. It shouldn’t take long, and he’ll probably have some time to brush up on some of the classics that he rarely plays when Eren is there. He gets fidgety when Levi chooses overly technical songs as opposed to the ones that are pleasant to the ear.

When he finally hits [play](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4r-c4I_9Rc), he’s surprised to immediately hear a lone piano. His ear is only for the music on the initial play-through, his fingers ghosting over keys but not playing a single note. There are a few other instruments, percussion and what not, but it sounds to be mostly piano, which is… Odd. Eren’s never requested anything so, well, _simple_. Normally they’re challenging, and unique, and require Levi to get creative with his covers. But this? Levi will basically be doing a straight rendition of the song.

He makes a noise in the back of his throat, frowning.

As the song ends and loops back to the beginning, he let’s his fingers play along. There is a bit of finger work for this particular song, and he does have to make up for the other instruments at parts, but still. He listens to the song another time that way, building the backing track until it’s to his liking, and when the track starts over, he listens to the lyrics for the first time, ready to layer them over the foundation he’s already finished. It’s not exactly the easy part, and sometimes requires a bit of fancy finger work, but considering Levi has to use so little ingenuity in the song, he’s a little up to the challenge for once.

Seriously, why had Eren even chosen this song?

“ _You’ve been on my mind_ ,” Adele croons at him. “ _I grow fonder every day. Lose myself in time just thinking of your face._ ” Oh. It’s a love song. Levi frowns in concentration as he plays, even though things have hardly gotten difficult yet. Eren wants him to play a love song? “ _God only knows why it’s taken me so long to let my doubts go._ ” It wouldn’t be the first time, he— “ _You’re the only one that I want_.” Levi’s hands stop on the keys.

Eren’s never requested a song before.

He’s asked Levi to play dozens of things, obviously, but it’s always been vague. A song from a certain genre, or a certain artist, or that made Levi feel a certain way, but he’s never given Levi a specific song.

“ _I dare you to let me be your, your one and only_.”

Levi stares over his piano at the far wall, face blank, as the music keeps playing even though he’s stopped playing along with it. Eren chose this song in particular, but _why?_ Does it mean something that he’s never done it before, but he did it for _this_ song? Or is Levi thinking too hard about all of this?

That has to be it. He’s overthinking things. _Crafty_ isn’t exactly a word that Levi would use to describe Eren, after all. There’s no way he would ask that Levi learn and play a song for a particular reason other than wanting to hear it. Even if it is a love song. Levi plays love songs all the fucking time for Eren, and it never means _anything_. He just… Hears the song and thinks Eren would like to listen to it, and that’s all the thought that goes into it. Does it really make a difference if Eren also knows its a love song this time?

Levi wants to tell himself that it doesn’t, but he can’t help feeling like it means _something_. That Eren—

No. No. _Ridiculous_ , he reminds himself, rolling his shoulders and starting to pick-up the song again. Levi’s thoughts are running away with him, and there’s no way that Eren—there’s just no way. Eren is just being Eren, and Levi must have to much Hanji on the brain if he’s starting to think things mean something when they obviously don’t.

As much as he tells himself that, his hands are unsteady with nerves as he finishes putting the piece together.

*

By the time Eren shows up at his door with a large bag of groceries and a beautiful smile, Levi is a mess. A composed mess, of course. He’s neatly put together as always, but if the inside of Levi’s body was a city of some sort, it would be in utter ruin and chaos.

“Hi,” Eren greets, and his voice is too bright, too high. Levi steps aside wordlessly to let him in, trying not to focus on the flush of exertion brushed over Eren’s skin or his obvious breathlessness. Almost like he ran up all seven flights of stairs rather than take the elevator.

He makes a beeline for Levi’s kitchen and immediately starts unloading his bag full of… Ingredients? Levi surveys the scene, eyes curious. He’d been expecting already prepared food, or take-out, or something, but Eren is pulling out shit like vegetables and raw chicken and he’s going to actually _make Levi dinner_.

Levi had no idea Eren could _cook_.

“Think you got enough food there?” Levi asks instead of voicing his disbelief. The sarcasm is familiar to him, and he latches onto it so that he doesn’t give into all the other tumultuous shit going on inside him.

Eren chuckles. “I tend to cook to cover a few meals. Left overs, you know? I’d rather bring myself lunch than pay for it.”

 _Responsible_ , Levi can’t help thinking. More responsible than he ever is about eating. When he even remembers _to_ eat. Cooking is messy, and requires more time than Levi is ever willing to give it. He thinks of all those nights coming home after performing and seeing Eren there, smiling, hands full of something warm and delicious. Levi had always assumed he just picked it up somewhere, but… Had Eren _made_ all of those meals?

Destruction wages on in his interior city.

As Eren starts to wash his hands ( _meticulously_ , Levi notes), Levi realizes that he plans on cooking and eating before Levi does any playing.

“So I was thinking I could cook first and then you could play after we’ve eaten,” Eren confirms not even a second later, and all Levi can think is _no_.

He doesn’t even realize he’s blurted it out, as well, until he sees Eren staring at him in confusion.

But Levi knows he can’t keep this up for however long cooking and eating will take. He feels like he’s falling apart, and the idea of trying to act like he’s perfectly fine makes him feel physically sick. No, the sooner he plays the song and gets it out of the way, the better.

“I want to play first,” he tacks on tersely, gripping his wrist behind his back, and Eren blinks at him owlishly before he dries his hands and goes about putting all the perishables in the fridge. Levi watches him work silently, and when Eren turns around, he looks slightly distressed—like he wishes Levi had gone with the original plan instead of this one.

There’s no attempt at convincing Levi that this practice is just like every other one. Levi sits on the bench, and Eren settles right beside him without preamble. He finds it’s very hard to tell himself _it’s nothing_ when Eren’s arm is pressed against his and the tension between them is so thick that Levi is surprised he’s not drowning in it.

God, and Levi hasn’t even started playing yet.

He breathes deeply, trying to settle all the loose pieces within himself, to find that pool of confidence he usually wades in whenever he plays. Instead, he finds Eren matching his breathing pattern, and for some reason, that’s what steadies him. By all means, it should make everything worse.

 _I should play something else_ , he thinks, hands poised over the keys. Anything else. Anything but the song Eren asked him to play. Because he can spend the last three decades of his life telling him it means jack shit, but he’s fucking lying to himself. How long has he been doing that, exactly?

No. He’s never backed down from one of Eren’s challenges, and like hell is he turning tail and running on this one of all ones.

Levi [plays](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGqDkODgd1Y). He plays, and Eren doesn’t sing, like Levi was expecting. Despite that, Eren’s presence is heavy. Levi can feel Eren’s eyes on him—not tracking his hands, the way most people’s do when Levi plays—but on his face, watching him, and Levi has to close his eyes to keep from looking back. His brow is pinched, and he hopes Eren believes it’s the music and not Levi’s own sudden consternation.

But any mask or wall that Levi has been trying to build, or thought he had built, shatters when his fingers fall into the second verse and Eren does sing. 

“ _If I’ve been on your mind._ ”

But it’s not just singing—not like it’s been before. This isn’t Eren just singing along because he happens to know the words and the whim overtakes him.

“ _You hang on every word I say_.”

This is planned. This singing is purposeful.

“ _You lose yourself in time._ ”

This is a fucking _serenade_ , and Eren is singing _to_ him.

“ _At the mention of my name_.”

Eren shifts beside him, and then Levi feels Eren’s fingers on the back of his neck, the way they skim gently over the exposed skin, moving with purpose to his ear before circling down to his jaw.

“ _Will I ever know…_ ” Levi’s eyes fly open as Eren gently turns his head, and then they’re looking at each other, and for the first time in a long time, Levi’s fingers trip over the notes before he finds his place and picks up again. Eren smiles. “ _…how it feels to hold you close? And have you tell me…_ ” Eren’s smile tightens, the words coming out thicker than they had before. “ _…whichever road I choose, you’ll go?_ ”

And there’s the belated drowning feeling that had been missing from this moment. Levi’s lungs feel too full, like he can’t get enough air in, and Eren’s touch doesn’t feel grounding. It feels like it’s making him sink, further and further into…

Into what?

“ _I don’t know why I’m scared_ ,” Eren sings to him, voice softer, a small smile playing at his lips, and it almost looks like he’s about to laugh. “ _‘Cause I’ve been here before_.” He gives Levi a pointed look that Levi absolutely doesn’t understand. “ _Every feeling_.” His fingers brush Levi’s jaw. “ _Every word. I’ve imagined it all._ ”

This part feels… Less like singing, and more like talking. Like Eren is telling him something, and while his hold on Levi’s jaw is by no means relentless and Levi could look away if he wanted to— _look away, look away, dear god, look away_ —he doesn’t move.

“ _You never know if you never try to forgive your past and simply be mine_.” Eren’s voice isn’t as sultry and soulful as Adele’s. But it’s still powerful. It still gets under Levi’s skin, sinks through and saturates him. When Levi goes over a piece later, he stills hear Eren’s voice weaved through his playing, and sometimes it’s like its meant to be there. Maybe Eren has a gift, or maybe it’s the fact that it’s Eren’s voice.

Maybe it’s both.

“ _I dare you to let me be your—_ ” Eren’s hands trail slowly away from Levi’s face, freeing him from the strange sort of staring contest they’ve ended up in, and Levi finds himself missing the touch, even as it settles at the juncture between his neck and shoulder. “ _—your one and only. I promise I’m worthy_.” Eren’s eyebrows pinch, and his hand runs from Levi’s shoulder to his elbow and back. “ _To hold in your arms._ ”

Levi wonders if Eren thinks that. If, in any way, Eren is not good enough for him. Doesn’t he realize how backwards that is? How it is so, so much the other way? That Levi can explain every little strange behavior of Eren’s away because it just doesn’t make _sense?_ That he can mask his own feelings because in what world would someone like Eren ever want to be involved with someone like Levi?

“ _So come on and give me a chance to prove I am the one who can…_ ” Eren breaks it first. Glances at Levi and then lowers his head, pressing his forehead into Levi’s shoulder as his hand falls and presses to the small of Levi’s back. Like singing this song has wrung him out and exhausted him. “ _Walk that mile until the end starts_.”

Or, on closer inspection, embarrassed, if the slightly reddish hue of Eren’s ears is anything to go by.

There’s a pregnant pause in singing then, as Levi continues to play, unsure if he should. He should stop, right? He should stop and they should… Talk? Is that what they’re supposed to do next? There’s a reason Levi avoids situations like this. There’s a reason he hasn’t had any semblance of a romantic relationship since that fucking mess with Erwin. Okay, several reasons, the most important being that he hasn’t had any sort of inclination towards another human being in almost a decade, but the fact that he’s completely hopeless in this situations certainly doesn’t help.

Then again, how could he possibly know how to navigate them if he’s _never fucking in them?_

“ _I know it ain’t easy giving up your heart…_ ” Eren sings, his voice much quieter, partly muffled by Levi’s arm but partly on purpose, as well.

And Levi can only think, _it’s gone_.

He stops playing, and the silence is deafening.

Eren’s hand is suddenly on top of his on the piano, and he’s looking up. He’s breathing irregularly again, and Levi realizes that he is, too. That they’re both acting like they just did something strenuous when Levi wasn’t even playing enough to make his joints ache in the good way he generally enjoys.

“Levi…” Eren angles his body towards him, and the piano makes a discordant noise as Eren laces his fingers through Levi’s in a backwards clasp of their hands. He looks sheepish for a moment, and then he’s getting close, the same way he’s gotten close. The way that usually has Levi shrinking away, of running, of finding any reason to get out.

“Please…” Eren says, like he can see Levi looking for an escape route. “This is the dozenth time I’ve tried to kiss you, please just let me do it this time.”

Levi’s eyes widen in shock, and Eren doesn’t look the least bit ashamed over it. Will blush tripping over his ottoman, but stares at Levi now, not the least bit distressed over the words coming out of his mouth. He’s resolute in what he’s saying, what he’s feeling.

Levi wishes he could say the same.

But he doesn’t move away. Closes his eyes and let’s Eren.

Let’s Eren kiss him.

Even though it’s happening, there’s still the feeling of anticipation building in Levi’s chest that doesn’t deflate until Eren pulls their mouths apart. It’s a very chaste kiss, and Levi was so busy thinking about it that he doesn’t even remember it.

Their noses touch, and Eren is breathing on his mouth. It’s gross, and Levi is drawing in air through his teeth so that he doesn’t start gasping it in because there has been literally no exertion. So why the fuck does he feel so exhausted?

Eren’s hand makes the long journey up Levi’s arm to his face again, thumb brushing daringly over his bottom lip, and Levi’s air relaxes out of him in a sigh. Satisfied with the reaction, Eren kisses him a second time, but _this_ one, this is the kiss that Levi will remember. Eren’s fingers in his hair, curling around the back of his head, Levi’s own hand grasping Eren’s shoulder, both of them pushing and pulling, giving and taking, like the crest and fall of waves crashing into the shoreline—that’s what Levi will remember.

And the way that Eren laughs against his lips afterwards, kisses him what must be a hundred times but Levi doesn’t have the mind to count, too busy letting him.

And the way Eren says, “Gotcha,” soft and wonderful, pressing his thumb into the corner of Levi’s mouth just in time for Levi to realize that he’s smiling.

**Author's Note:**

> [read, reblog, & like on tumblr](http://missmichellebelle.tumblr.com)


End file.
